


Stubborn little punk

by Moonylina



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Artist Steve Rogers, First Kiss, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Steve Rogers, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-World War II Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Stubborn Steve Rogers, They‘re just having the same argument as always
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:34:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29080197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonylina/pseuds/Moonylina
Summary: It was all fine. Just a normal, meaningless argument, not like they haven't had it at least a thousand times before. It was all fine, until it wasn't. And all that just because Bucky Barnes couldn't shut his stupid mouth.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 1
Kudos: 37





	Stubborn little punk

It was all fine. Just a normal, meaningless argument, not like they haven't had it at least a thousand times before. It was all fine, until it wasn't. And all that just because Bucky Barnes couldn't shut his stupid mouth. 

Steve rushed through the door, a gust of wind coming in with him. He slammed it harshly behind him. His feet felt heavy and exhausted, but blood was still rushing through his veins and the adrenaline hadn't left his body quite yet. He seemed to not even acknowledge his split lip, the scratches on his cheek, where his face had hit the pavement, the bruises covering parts of his face nor his damn bloody knuckles. His hair was a mess and his hands sweaty. He slipped off his shoes and kicked them into a corner carelessly. It was only then that he saw Bucky standing in the middle of their apartment staring at him intensely and it was only then that he realized what he's gotten himself into now. A big sigh escaped his mouth and he made his way to the bathroom, not saying a word. His mind was practically screaming as he walked past his friend.

_ Please don't say anything, please don't say anything, please don't- _

Bucky grabbed his shoulder, forcing Steve to stay where he was. Of course he would say something. Steve really wasn't in the mood for this shit. „Bucky, listen...just leave me alone, alright?" He said, a piercing look on his face. He could practically see Bucky turning on his overprotective mode, the second Steve had said those words. „You come home, lookin' like this, more than an hour late and tell me to just leave you alone? Steve you look half dead, Jesus", Bucky sighed deeply, now taking a closer look at Steve's face for the first time. He really did look horrible. „Buck, please I'm tired and it's nothin' I swear, doesn't even hurt", Steve answered not hiding the annoyance in his voice. He was angry, he really was. He was sick of all this, this being so small and skinny and not being able to throw a damn punch. „Yeah, sure", Bucky murmured sarcastically, not believing a word. His grip was still tight on Steve's shoulder. 

„What were you even thinking? Your sense of self equals zero, doesn't it?", he now asked, already sounding mad at Steve. Why did it always have to end like this? 

Steve rolled his eyes. „I don't wanna talk about it, just let me go for heaven's sake." Steve growled and tried to free himself from Bucky's arm. Usually he wasn't like this. He didn't shut Bucky out, but this time...it just felt different. He was convinced that he was better off alone anyway. Bucky pulled Steve back so that he had to face the taller man. „I am not letting you go and you know why? Because you can't take care of yourself and if it weren't for me you'd be lying dead in a back alley or some shit." Just thinking about it gave Bucky goosebumps, it was one of his biggest fears and it was always too damn close to reality. „Well, I appreciate your concern, but" Steve hesitated, he didn't want to act impulsively but at the same time he only felt rage inside of him. The way Bucky stared at him, with his stupid blue eyes, his half parted lips and the way he had a stern look on his face, it was just..

„I can take care of myself just fine. I don't, I don't even get why you would do this. I don't need no one to take care of me, so-„ he felt like he couldn't find the right words and it got him even more angry „So even if I were lyin' dead in some back alley. What would it matter to you anyways? You- you can have a perfect life, this isn't even important!" He had started shouting more than he had wanted to and the following silence felt more uncomfortable than ever. He almost didn't dare to look up into Bucky's eyes again now, but he just had to. „How can you even say that?", Bucky whispered, barely understandable. He wanted to both slap and kiss Steve for it. How couldn't he know? How wasn't that punk aware that he was the most important person in his life? 

Steve didn't answer the question, he wasn't even sure Bucky had actually asked. All he did was stare at the floor, his expression unreadable. „What happened, Stevie?", Bucky asked after a few seconds. His voice calm and soothing, not at all like his heart just broke into little pieces. 

And Steve hated it, he hated that Bucky was so forgiving and nice and  _ Why couldn't he just be a prick like everyone else? Now he had said something like that and, and why was Bucky still being nice?  _ Steve sighed and noticed that it sounded shivering. He finally

freed himself from Bucky's grip and took a step backwards. With his hand he rubbed the shoulder Bucky had just held so tightly. „Steve, please tell me", Bucky asked again. And despite all the rage in his body Steve had no right to brush Bucky off now. „They just called me some names, s' nothin' to make a fuss about", he said, trying to sound indifferent. Bucky furrowed his brows in sorrow and stepped closer to Steve again. „I know you Steve", he hesitated „or at least I think I do", he added quietly „It's been more than once that people called you some shit and even though you do let provoke yourself quite easily, you could just ignore them. You look even worse than most times and you‘re behavin strangely so please don't lie to me."  _ Well, fuck. _

„There were those guys, who always picked on me in highschool and when they recognized me, they wouldn't stop following me. Called me a pansy, fairy, a fag and all that stuff. Told them to shut up but they didn't so I had to do something, got it?", Steve snapped, sounding angrier again. 

_Oh_.  It was ironic, almost funny, Bucky thought to himself. Steve having to go through all this stuff, when it was him who they should really call all these things. It was unfair, really.

„Oh, Stevie, I'm so sorry, next time I see those-„ Bucky started angrily, but Steve cut him off. „You won't do shit about this, this has got nothin' to do with you, understand? Why are you being so overprotective?!" 

_ Because I love you, Steve. Because I always have. _

Steve knew Bucky just wanted to help, he damn well knew he should be thankful, but he wasn't worth it. Those guys were right after all, they probably knew before Steve himself had known. The way he saw Bucky, the countless times he'd drawn him, the way he felt when they were close. It was just hopeless. He was hopeless. 

„So you're calling preventing you from gettin killed overprotective now?", Bucky asked and snatched Steve back to reality. Steve ruffled through his already messed hair and ugh when did their conversation end up like that? „No, but I don‘t get why you even care so much about me...I'm just, all I am is-„ 

_ Because I'm in love with you. Why don't you fucking get it?  _

_ I love you I love you I love- _

„You’re important to me, Steve-„, Bucky tried to stop his stupid brain to almost confess his love for his best friend. He wanted to reach out for him, but Steve dodged away. „No, I'm sick of this, I'm sick of myself", he scoffed „I mean look at me and then look at you. I haven't won a single fight in my life, no dame could ever want me. All I do is get in trouble. I-I don't even know why you're keeping up with my shit." There it was. Now he said it.

„Because I love you, you stubborn punk!“

Wait what? 

Steve froze and it was only then that Bucky noticed he had reached out and was holding Steves’s upper arms with both of his hands and  _ Oh Fuck, did he just say that out loud?  _ Bucky felt his heart racing and his body getting overwhelmed with anxiety. As soon as he really realized what he had done he stepped back immediately, pure fear rushing through his body. „Steve, that‘s not what I- I mean, I didn‘t mean-„ If it would have been just a bit lighter in their apartment, Bucky just might have seen the blush creeping up on Steve’s cheeks, but he didn‘t. „You mean, you didn‘t mean it like  that ?“, Steve asked numbly. The words had made his heart skip ten beats but he knew better than to get his hopes up like that. „YES I MEAN, NO- I“ Why did this have to be so complicated? Was it tho? Or was he just being a coward? Bucky asked himself, his expression more worried than ever. 

Steve still looked piercingly into Bucky’s eyes, the amount of courage he kept in this little body of his was extraordinarily high. „Are you gonna tell me, what you‘re trying to say?“ Steve asked, trying to hide the shakiness in his voice. THE Bucky Barnes oh so great with words and seductions was now having an inner breakdown and felt as if he had never learnt how to speak a word. Deep breath, here we go. „I said, I love you, you stubborn punk“, a part of him really felt relieved saying this after such a long time of keeping to himself, though he didn’t sound very sure of his own statement. He only now realized how much he had actually wanted to say it. Steve still stared at him blankly. „Why‘d you say that?“ Steve had expected a lot of things today, but not THIS. And his brain kind of still needed to do catching up with the current situation. „You‘ve had enough catching up within the past forever years you‘d liked him“, he told himself but it didn‘t help. 

„Well, because it‘s true“, Bucky answered softly, his voice cracking a bit as his emotions overwhelmed him. „And you‘re damn stupid for not knowing that“, he added now letting out a breathy laugh. He wanted to get closer, to give him comfort, as he saw blue, watery eyes staring at him, but he didn‘t dare to, knowing he was the reason for them.Suddenly Steve looked to the side, clearing his throat. „You know the reason why those bullies always get me so mad, is because secretly I know they‘re right“, he mumbled more to himself than to Bucky. „I know that everything they say is true but I don‘t want it to be true myself, would only bring me more pain, I know it.“ Before he could think Bucky’s hand was resting on his arm again, just seeking a connection, a comfort to hold onto. 

Slowly Steve looked into Bucky’s eyes again, they looked sad...yet warm and somewhat loving. „Doesn’t have to bring you pain, Stevie. You wanna tell me something now that I accidentally confessed my undying love to you?“, Bucky asked with a lopsided smile, finally breaking the depressing tension between them. Sounding like the old Bucky again, sounding like the only thing Steve had been sure of in his life. Home. He shook his head, a smile on his face as well. „I can show you something instead“, he whispered. All the anger, angst and worry leaving his body for the second. He got onto his toes, both hands in Bucky’s neck as he pulled him down and kissed him. Bucky closed his eyes and  _oh he was supposed to kiss back-_ and even though he had kissed a dozen girls before, he couldn‘t compare anything with this moment. 

„You  _ idiot _ “, Bucky hissed as Steve let himself down on his feet again. Steve stared at him blankly, fear flashing in his eyes. _He shouldn‘t have done that, he shouldn’t-_

„Look at you, with a damn split lip and those dirty scratches and you think it‘s so smart goin‘ round and kissing people, before even patching yourself up?“ Bucky asked teasingly. „Had no opportunity, some jerk was holding me up from going to the bathroom.“ Steve shot back, his heart filled with relief, because they were still them and nothing seemed to really have changed after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this, it‘s kinda short but I really was in the mood for some stupid fighting/turning into love confession so yeah ahaha  
> Have a good day :)


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